Obama Winks, Zings His Way Through State of the Union

President Barack Obama delivered the State of the Union address on Tuesday night, declaring that the United States was on solid footing and identifying his priorities for the remainder of his presidency. The entire speech—posted before Obama began speaking, thus making it clear when Obama was adlibbing—is available for reading on VF Daily.

The speech is a work of political theater and spectacle, which makes any deviations from the script remarkable. That happened at least twice during Tuesday’s speech. Early in the speech, Obama reveled in applause after ticking off some improvements in America’s economy. Then came the wink seen around the world, and the unscripted line, “This is good news, people.”

Later in the speech, Obama re-used one of his favorite lines of late: “I have no more campaigns to run.” Some in the chamber, presumably Republicans, jumped on the opportunity to air out some boos. Obama again strayed from his prepared remarks, relaxing into a zinger: “I know, because I won both of them.”